The Second Year: Theory of Mind

Developing theory of mind (or understanding that other people have minds, feelings, and goals separate from your own) supposedly takes off around a child's second birthday. These first sparks of rudimentary empathy are exciting and certainly worth recording.

As of his second birthday:
* Soren hides where I can't see him,
* offers favorite food to others (especially his brother),
* uses words like please, thank you, you're welcome, and bless you,
* complies with simple requests,
* understands the necessity of a trade-off,
* asks for help when he can't accomplish something on his own,
* and does not take toys from other children.

This is an area that Soren is really blossoming in right now and I am excited to see what the next year will bring.

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Our Potty Training Journey

February 2010 GOAL: My initial goal was to introduce Soren to the toilet and make it a fun place to sit. I have to admit that I also hoped that we would have some fortunate "accidents" that would lead to potty training success. STRATEGY: My plan was to sit Soren on the toilet once a day and read him a couple of stories. If he peed, I was planning to give him a candy. THE BAD NEWS: The candy totally backfired. The one time that he peed on the toilet, I gave him a candy and he had a full-on tantrum begging for more. If I ever told him "When you pee on the potty, you can have a candy", he would begin screaming for the treat and be unable to focus on the toilet training. THE GOOD NEWS: Soren was not afraid of sitting on the big toilet. He actually really enjoyed it (when I was reading stories and not pimping rewards) and started asking to sit there any time his butt was bare. J June 2010 GOAL: My goal was to potty train Soren within the month of June

Cake for Breakfast!

I was getting dressed when it suddenly got very quiet out in the living room. Soren had been contentedly babbling a moment ago and now it was silent. I'm sure you can imagine me, rushing half-panted down the hall, hoping nothing horrible had happened. At our last visit, my pediatrician filled my mind with horror stories of infant death; now gruesome scenes were flipping through my mind like a slide show on speed. Or like the scary tunnel in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Expecting a disaster, I was relieved when this was what I saw in the living room: The night before, I'd left a slice of left-over cake on the arm chair. We'd had company and Soren had been in bed. When I'd forgotten it at the end of the evening, it had been far from my son's greedy grasp. But this morning, when it was still left behind, it was within easy baby reach and too unusual for him not to explore. No wonder he was so quiet! He'd been experimenting with an unk

Milestone: New Syllable

This feels like such a silly thing to report about but it's got me tickled pink. Today Soren learned, what I feel, is the most important of all the English syllables: "ma". And it's about time. After months and months of hearing nothing but "da da da da" all day long, it's a refreshing change. I'm pretty sure that "da da" and "ma ma" don't correlate to anything in his mind yet. Still, he's that much closer to calling me his "mama" and I can't say the approximations don't warm my heart.

Mom Remembers

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